Thursday, May 04, 2017

Band Review: Dead Swords

Dead Swords is an ambient band from New Jersey, started by Alex
Rosamilia of The Gaslight Anthem and Corey Perez of I Am the Avalance (plus at
least one more band each). I came to the band because of Rosamilia.

I was not sure what to make of them at first. There
is a beauty to the music, but it is combined with a brutal harshness, living up
to genre labels like "doom" and "drone". "Interlude
03" is crushing.

I began to see a context when I looked at their
Facebook story.

"Listening to Dead Swords is like being lost in
the loneliest darkness. Theirs is a world of overwhelming static and feedback,
or eternities-long melancholy, of the purest beauty shrouded and obscured by
the blackest night."

That confirmed that it was intentional, though I
wasn't really sure that it was for me.

As luck would have it, I am posting their review on
a day when an abomination of a president signs an executive order that refers
to freedom to deprive others as religious freedom and the House is celebrating
putting healthcare out of the reach of millions by bringing in beer.

If there is ever a time when it is necessary to have
music that can accompany you through chilling darkness and wring some beauty
out of the void, this would appear to be that time.